Olympics | U.S., France keep winning streaks in women's basketball

LILLE, France, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S., hosts France and Olympic new-comers Germany kept their perfect records on Thursday as they extended winning streak in the women's basketball at the Paris 2024.

Belgium tried everything they have but were still unable to pull down the U.S., which pocketed their second win by 87-74.

After a 23 to all first quarter, the seven-time Olympic champions held a 46-38 lead in the first half. The European champions played a better defense in the third quarter, but their offense was not productive when their opponents kept expanding the lead for the victory.

Center Emma Meesseman scored a team-high 24 points, which was not enough to overturn the game as Breanna Stewart scored 26 points and A'ja Wilson had 23 points and 13 rebounds for the U.S.

France met little challenge to beat Nigeria 75-54, an identical scoreline as their victory over Canada in the opener on Monday.

Nigeria, which upset Australia 75-62 in their first Group B match, had no match-up to France as they never had a lead after a 2-0 start of the match.

All but one French player scored as they shot 63 percent in the field, led by Marine Johannes' 15 points.

Germany, which are playing their first-ever Olympic Games, beat Japan 75-64 for their second wins at the Paris 2024.

After battling in every corner on the court in the first three quarters when Germany led for most of the time, Japan slowly clawed back to trail 69-64 with 1:14 minutes left in the game.

Germany made all the following four free-throws to end Japan's last hope, thanks to Satou Sabally's 33 points.

Australia won their first match in the tournament, defeating Canada 70-65 as Sami Whitcomb scored 19 points to lead five Australians in double-digit numbers.

Bridget Carleton also scored 19 points for Canada, which didn't really challenge Australia.